Michael van Gerwen is the centrepiece of world darts these days and his current form shows exactly why he is considered the world's best.

With Phil Taylor set to retire later this year, the Dutchman will become the most iconic figure in darts and his form in 2017, all bar the UK Open qualifiers, has continued to be of the very highest standard.

Darts is enjoying an exceptional era of talent that has made this year's Premier League as exciting as ever - and there has not been a dull moment so far.

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But, in the shadows of last Thursday's entertaining opening night of Premier League darts in Newcastle, the UK Open qualifiers took place in Wigan last Friday. And thankfully the Professional Darts Corporation were on hand to record the matches.

Van Wergen saw his three-month unbeaten sequence come to an end after being defeated by Ritchie Edhouse, just a day after drawing his opening Premier League match of the season against Gary Anderson.

However, the Dutchman's time in Wigan was not completely wasted, as he created a record that has only ever been matched once - achieving two nine-darters in a single match.

During his third-round tie against Ryan Murray, Van Gerwen was 2-1 up before he completed a nine-dart finish to put him in a 3-1 lead.

But for anyone thinking the 27-year-old could not possibly do it again, they would be wrong.

At 5-1 up, the Dutchman was already coasting towards the finish line. But it seems Van Gerwen doesn't need the backing of a big crowd to spur him on, as he recreated the feat once again.

You can see Van Gerwen's ruthless finishing in the video below.

And if that world-class performance against Murray was anything to go by, it's hard to imagine the Dutch genius not retaining the Premier League trophy.

2016 was an incredible year for Van Gerwen - winning the Premier League, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, UK Open, Grand Slam of Darts, European Championship, Players Championship Finals and The Masters- and there is nothing to suggest he can't retain those titles, also.